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About the Faculty Senate

The Faculty Senate is the official representative body of the faculty at the University of Kentucky. Through the Faculty Senate, UK faculty formally engage in matters most important to the faculty body, including those related to curriculum and academic affairs. 

The Faculty Senate is part of UK's system of shared governance, alongside the Staff Senate and the Student Government Association. Shared governance is a bedrock principle of the university, and the Faculty Senate allows faculty to utilize their expertise to advance the university's mission. Through advice and counsel given to the president, faculty voices — across the university — are heard and represented in the Faculty Senate. 

Each college, including Libraries and the Graduate School, is represented by two faculty members on the Faculty Senate. Faculty senators represent the interests of their college's faculty and provide a substantive role in the development and review of academic issues and policies.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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Purpose

Subject to the limitations imposed by the law, the Governing Regulations and the Administrative Regulations, the Faculty Senate shall on an ongoing basis: 

  1. Be formally engaged in and consulted about relevant matters important to faculty to ensure the credit-bearing and non-credit bearing curriculum in academic colleges aligns with the university’s mission, which would include academic degree-program reviews, approvals and closures, attendance and absence policies, as well as the general education program requirements;
  2. Advise the provost on university-wide criteria, policies and procedures for performance review, appointments, reappointments, promotions, granting of tenure, career progression, compensation and benefits to faculty in the university;
  3. Advise the president on measures necessary to preserve and protect the university’s deep commitment to free speech and academic freedom as set forth in Governing Regulation I;
  4. Advise the president as to the ethical and professional standards applicable to members of the university’s faculty; and 
  5. Represent the views of the faculty to the president and other shared governance bodies.

Provisional Faculty Senate Executive Committee

Following the decision by the Board of Trustees in June 2024 to reconstitute the University Senate to a Faculty Senate, the provost led a Provisional Faculty Senate Executive Committee (Provisional FSEC) until a new Faculty Senate was seated. 

The Provisional FSEC consisted of 22 members: 19 faculty members, the two elected faculty Trustees and the provost. The provost asked each of the deans to nominate faculty members from their colleges and areas — the faculty chosen to serve on the Provisional FSEC were an integral part of creating the Faculty Senate at UK. The Provisional FSEC established the rules and procedures of the Faculty Senate.

In the period before the Faculty Senate was seated, the Provisional FSEC continued the important work of academic operations, including programmatic and curricular proposal reviews. 

Archived Messages from the Provisional FSEC:

July 31, 2024

Aug. 15, 2024

Sept. 19, 2024

Oct. 10, 2024